"Virtual Oil Paintings" or "Smudge Paintings"

kwcrow

I've just started playing around with a new photo processing technique that is some call "Virtual Oil Painting" and some call it "Smudge Painting". Whatever it is called, it can give a unique look to rather ordinary portraits or sports pictures. Here are a few that I have done, and would like to get a discussion going, where we could all help each other learn and improve the technique.

All of these photos were color corrected for saturated colors and over sharpened using HIRELOAM. Techniques you can read about in the "Dan Margulis" thread.

Done in Corel Painter X using "Smart Stroke Painting" and "Smart Stroke Settings" and the "Bristle Oils Cloner 15" from "Cloners" Category!
[IMG]http://www.kcrow.com/dgrin/Brock Heath Oil Cropped Square.jpg[/IMG]

The next 3 were smudged using the smudge tool from Photoshop CS3.




Done in Corel Painter X using "Smart Stroke Painting" and "Smart Stroke Settings" and the "Bristle Oils Cloner 15" from "Cloners" Category! Stitched together with CS3.
[IMG]http://www.kcrow.com/dgrin/Oil Painting Black Bear Pano 1 with texture & matte2.jpg[/IMG]

wildviper

Wow..those are pretty cool. How did you do those in PS CS3? I don't have Corel Painter.

kwcrow

wildviper wrote:

Wow..those are pretty cool. How did you do those in PS CS3? I don't have Corel Painter.

Helpfull links that got me this far.
http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3870&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45
[URL="http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5[/URL]

[URL="http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=260882&page=4http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=260882&page=4[/URL]
http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18
http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5
http://www.gertrudisgraphics.com/
Andrzej Dragan's photo treatment
http://www.wetcanvas.com/
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=17101687
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=18183049
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=17069573
http://www.trimoon.com/html/downloads.html
http://www.aftercapture.com/
http://www.nikoncafe.com/tools/tutor.../Untitled.html

http://vallejo.ural.net/
http://members.fortunecity.com/gabriella66/royo.html
http://www.frazettaartgallery.com/ff/index.html
http://jssgallery.org/Major_Paintings/Major.htm
http://www.imaginefx.com/

Some nice tutorials in the tut section
http://www.furiae.com/index.php?view=gallery
http://www.henningludvigsen.com/wordpress/?page_id=22
http://www.henningludvigsen.com/wordpress/?page_id=203

Some good forums
http://community.imaginefx.com/forums/
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/
http://www.wetcanvas.com/
http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/advanced/menu.htm

If there is enough interest, I would be willing to put together the workflow that I use to get these results, although there are people out there, much more qualified than myself. Here are topics I would be interested in learning about, if there are any experts out there with some insight into "Smudge Painting" or digital painting in general that could enlighten us, please contribute.
1. Skin
2. Hair
3. Eyes
4. Lips
5. Backgrounds
6. Clothing

I know that there are keys to getting good results with each of these topics.

kwcrow

wildviper wrote:

Wow..those are pretty cool. How did you do those in PS CS3? I don't have Corel Painter.

Sorry, I didn't answer your question other than providing links.
I used the smudge tool which looks like a gloved hand with the index finger pointing down. I am away from CS3 right now, but I think it is grouped with the Sharpen and Blur tool. When the smudge is selected, you can choose a brush to go along with it. For skin I used this brush Linda's smudge brush, and for the hair, I used these brushes Sarsa's hair brushes .

I will try to summarize all of the links I provided, when I get back to my CS3 machine.

-Kevin

wildviper

kwcrow wrote:

Sorry, I didn't answer your question other than providing links.
I used the smudge tool which looks like a gloved hand with the index finger pointing down. I am away from CS3 right now, but I think it is grouped with the Sharpen and Blur tool. When the smudge is selected, you can choose a brush to go along with it. For skin I used this brush Linda's smudge brush, and for the hair, I used these brushes Sarsa's hair brushes .

I will try to summarize all of the links I provided, when I get back to my CS3 machine.

-Kevin

Kevin,

Wow..thanx for those links. I appreciate that. I will have read up on that. I really like your effects.

Dogdots

Beautiful work---would love to see a step by step process.

----Mary

kwcrow

Dogdots wrote:

Beautiful work---would love to see a step by step process.

----Mary

Here is a more managable set of links that I learned 90% of the technique from.

Good tutorial and this is where I got the skin and hair brushes for Photoshop Smudge.
http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18&sid=b9be31b93b3c7b14b0411a40235aa903

Faye Sirkis does some Amazing looking work! I would like to know some of her secrets. Great with the eyes. Done in Corel Painter, but concepts are the same.
http://www.corel.com/content/pdf/painterix/FaySirkus_PhotoshopUser_Sept05.pdf

Focuses on pre-processing the image more, which I personally think is very important. Read through the Dan Margulis threads below to learn from the best. LAB Curves to enhance color and HIRALOAM Sharpening to increase local contrast. You can get away with a lot more when doing a smudge painting.
http://www.skeller.ch/ps/beagle_smudge.php

Brad Buttry sells a DVD of how to do it. I may end up buying or renting it, but wanted to see if anyone from this forum could give me some ensight.
This guy does some amazing work.
http://www.mmkgraphics.com
Link to thread discussing technique and the DVD.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=260882&page=1

Now I've gone and put too many links in again. Honestly though, this is where I got almost all of my info from.

Dan Margulis links.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=48066
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18203
---Kevin

Dogdots

kwcrow wrote:

Here is a more managable set of links that I learned 90% of the technique from.

Good tutorial and this is where I got the skin and hair brushes for Photoshop Smudge.
http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18&sid=b9be31b93b3c7b14b0411a40235aa903

Faye Sirkis does some Amazing looking work! I would like to know some of her secrets. Great with the eyes. Done in Corel Painter, but concepts are the same.
http://www.corel.com/content/pdf/painterix/FaySirkus_PhotoshopUser_Sept05.pdf

Focuses on pre-processing the image more, which I personally think is very important. Read through the Dan Margulis threads below to learn from the best. LAB Curves to enhance color and HIRALOAM Sharpening to increase local contrast. You can get away with a lot more when doing a smudge painting.
http://www.skeller.ch/ps/beagle_smudge.php

Brad Buttry sells a DVD of how to do it. I may end up buying or renting it, but wanted to see if anyone from this forum could give me some ensight.
This guy does some amazing work.
http://www.mmkgraphics.com
Link to thread discussing technique and the DVD.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=260882&page=1

Now I've gone and put too many links in again. Honestly though, this is where I got almost all of my info from.

Dan Margulis links.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=48066
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18203
---Kevin

THANK YOU---THANK YOU---THANK YOU

You can never have to many links

----Mary

G Mohr

I like this style of painting as well ... I paint the entire project in Photoshop only. The response from this little gals parents was wonderful.

G Mohr

Here's the original

kwcrow

G Mohr wrote:

Here's the original

Fantastic work G Mohr!!! I;m sure the parents were thrilled with this. Can you give me some hints about how you did it and where you learned it? Do you do anything different than the links that I posted? What brushes do you use?

G Mohr

kwcrow wrote:

Fantastic work G Mohr!!! I;m sure the parents were thrilled with this. Can you give me some hints about how you did it and where you learned it? Do you do anything different than the links that I posted? What brushes do you use?

Thanks for the nice coments Kevin. Here is a link that would be well worth your time to check out.
It's the "Canon Digital Phorography Forum".
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=260882
This is where I was first introduced to Smudge Painting. The topic has been closed by Canon but they still post the entire thread. If you will register for a User Name and Password you will have access to all the photos in the thread. Brad Buttry's work is there as well as Rod Barker and other Gurus. It can help you get up to speed quickly.

Check out this link for brushes ... should be free http://www.innographx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3666

[FONT=Geneva, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Here's another "before and after" photo.

These two ladies are sharing their birthday on the same day. We took the painted .jpg to the Bakery and had the photo placed on the cake (edible version of course) ... got a great response from all the crew at work ... fun stuff [/FONT]

G Mohr

Here's the original

kwcrow

G Mohr wrote:

Here's the original

Wow! G Mohr. That looks great! I like your backgrounds and the 3D masking effect you used. I may have to steal your technique. Did you end up getting Brad Buttry's DVD? How long did each of these pictures take you to do? I have found I can do one between 1 and 2 hours. What is you technique for your backgrounds, and what brush and size did you use?
I think that you are getting a more painterly look than I am. I can't pin-point what or how you are doing it, but some of my paintings look more air-brushed than painted, which is not my intention. Do you know what I am seeing and can you pin-point why I don't get the same effect you do?
-Kevin

G Mohr

kwcrow wrote:

Wow! G Mohr. That looks great! I like your backgrounds and the 3D masking effect you used. I may have to steal your technique. Did you end up getting Brad Buttry's DVD? How long did each of these pictures take you to do? I have found I can do one between 1 and 2 hours. What is you technique for your backgrounds, and what brush and size did you use?
I think that you are getting a more painterly look than I am. I can't pin-point what or how you are doing it, but some of my paintings look more air-brushed than painted, which is not my intention. Do you know what I am seeing and can you pin-point why I don't get the same effect you do?
-Kevin

Hey Kevin ... Lots of questions on your last post and I want you to know that I would be more than happy to share any or all my ideas with you or anyone else who may be interested.

Yes, I did study Brad Buttry's CDs and I would highly recommend them to anyone who might be interested in shortening the learning curve. All your brush and tool questions are covered in his training. I guess you could learn on your own but I'm not the most patient guy in that respect.

As far as the time that it takes me to paint a portrait I would average about 4 hours. I'm picking up speed as i become more comfortable with the tools. Honestly, it's not a quick process to paint these and I think you would sell yourself short if you concern yourself with a window of time allowed for each painting. You will become faster as you practice ... no doubt.

AS far as the masking and background goes ... I need to go back to PS and write down the steps as I did them ... give me a little more time on that step please.

Best, George

ewiskan

G Mohr wrote: »

I like this style of painting as well ... I paint the entire project in Photoshop only. The response from this little gals parents was wonderful.

Awesome Art,i'm new to start to learn smudge painting,but my question is,how do i can change background to be like this ?
i used photoshop and need to know how to do it,are this using masking effect ?
Thanks